


The Mother

by ghastly7



Series: Among the Rifts [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, This time I'm pretty sure the kids count as original characters, ft. Blake being not okay, ft. Conscience Weiss, ft. Ruby being a bad aunt, ft. angry nightmare Adam, ft. bad mom, ft. like every huntsman ever, ft. the prismacolor sniper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-03-29 07:16:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 16,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13922088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghastly7/pseuds/ghastly7
Summary: Something goes wrong when Yang is out on a mission.Please read The Child before reading this one. If you don't, you'll be missing out on some references, and you won't get to see how much of a liar I am.





	1. Missing

“Hey Yin!” Moon and Blake both said together.

“Hey kiddo,” Yang said afterword.

“ _ Hey, guys! _ ” Yin said over the speaker of the scroll. “ _ Is the camera coming through clearly? This is my first time using the CCT on my own. _ ”

“It’s working fine, Yin. Don’t worry,” Moon said.

“ _ Okay, cool. Awesome. Cool. _ ”

“So how is your first year at Beacon going?” Blake asked.

“ _ Pretty good! I’m part of Team FIYR. Two of my other team members are faunus, too! _ ”

Yang nodded. “Glad to hear that you feel comfortable in your team. How is Grandpa’s class?”

Yin paused for a second. “ _ Weird. _ ”

Yang smirked. “I can’t say that I expected anything less.”

“ _ He gets… super enthusiastic about the weirdest things. _ ”

“Yeah, that sounds like Grandpa,” Moon said.

“Hey, that’s my dad you’re talking about,” Yang said. “My weird, overly-enthusiastic dad.”

“How was initiation?” Blake asked.

“ _ It was fun. I got set on fire! _ ”

Blake furrowed her eyebrows. “Were you okay?”

“ _ Yeah, I’m fine. Some people could use Weiss’s lecture on dust safety. Having to go flying through the air kinda sucked more though, because, y’know, heights. I managed to pull off a landing strategy anyways. _ ”

“That’s my girl,” Yang said.

“ _ Hey Moon, how are you doing at Signal without me there? _ ”

“About the same as before,” Moon said. “It’s still a drag.”

“ _ I know you’re really good at this stuff and you don’t feel challenged, but next year you’ll be in Beacon, where they literally throw you into a Grimm-infested forest and let you fend for yourself on the second day. It’s… a little more intense. _ ”

“It had better be,” Moon said. “Or I’ll want a refund.”

“ _ Have you made any new friends? _ ” Yin asked.

Moon scoffed. “I don’t need  _ three _ moms, thank you very much.”

“She’s right though,” Blake said. “You need to try to put in an effort.”

“When did this conversation become about me?!” Moon flailed her arms around dramatically.

“Okay, fine, we’ll talk about this later,” Yang said. “Yin, what about you? You made any friends yet?”

“ _ Mmm, no. I’m still trying to get to know my team members. One of them is very cheerful and fun to be around. The others are a little more tame. One of them is kind of secretive about everything they do. _ ”

Yang glanced at Blake. “I can’t imagine what that must be like,” she said with evident sarcasm, receiving a playful shove in return.

“ _ But I think I can work well with them. _ ”

“For now, that’s all that really matters,” Blake said. “Just focus on that. Trust will form later.”

“Or you could start flirting with them. That works too,” Yang said.

“Don’t listen to your mother, sweetie. She’s a bad influence,” Blake said jokingly.

“I am the greatest influence,” Yang said.

Moon shook her head. “These are our parents, Yin.”

“ _ How did we ever manage to survive?” _

_ “ _ The robots certainly didn’t help,” Yang said.

Silence followed her comment.

“Sorry, still too soon?”

“ _ A little. _ ”

“Sorry,” Yang rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously.

“Anyways,” Blake diverted the topic, “I wanted to let you know that your mother will be going out on a mission soon, so you might not hear from her.”

“ _ Ooo, where is it?” _

_ “ _ Higanbana,” Yang said. “It’s a Mistral village with a popular inn.”

“ _ How long is the mission going to take? _ ”

“It should take around a week. So give me about three days,” Yang winked.

“ _ When does it start? _ ”

Yang looked at the clock. “In about 45 minutes, so I should get going.” She picked up a backpack full of her stuff, kissed her wife’s forehead, and approached the door. “Love you all!”

“ _ Love you! _ ” Yin said.

“Love you, Mom,” Moon said.

“Come back in one piece, please!” Blake said.

Yang saluted and left out of the front door.

___

 

That was a month ago.

 

Yin came back into the house with a large, paper bag filled with groceries.

“I’m home,” she announced.

“Hey, sweetie,” Blake said weakly. She got up off of the couch and came to help carry the groceries. Her eyes were puffy and red. She had been crying again.

“No word from Mom?” Yin asked, already knowing the answer.

Blake shook her head. There hadn’t been a single clue as to why Yang wasn’t home yet.

Blake took a deep breath, though. “I’m trying to be optimistic. Huntsman missions often take longer than planned. I mean, there were some upperclassmen at Beacon who took a whole extra week on what was only a mission to clear out Grimm. So, I’m going under the belief that your mother is fine.”

Yin could tell that her mother was lying to herself.

Moon peeked out from the staircase. “Hey Yin,” she said.

Yin gave a half-hearted wave. School was out for break for both of them, which gave them both plenty of time to wonder where their mother was. Moon was committed to searching for clues, but Yin was starting to give up hope.

“So, I saw Grandpa at the store today,” Yin said.

“Oh? How is he?” Blake faked interest.

“He’s… well he’s in just about the same boat as we are.”

“Oh,” Blake said.

Yin had tried to bring that up to change the subject.  _ Why can’t I shut my own damn mouth? _

“So, uh, read any good books lately?”

_ Really?! That’s the best you can do? Books?! _

Blake shook her head. “I’m afraid I haven’t really done too much reading the past couple of weeks.”

_ Of course. You knew that, Yin. Stupid, stupid, stupid! _

Neither Moon nor Blake were participating in their usual hobbies. Blake was wracked with grief and sorrow, and Moon was too busy looking for leads.

_ Speaking of which… _

“Hey Moon! Do you want to spar for a bit?”

_ That always works. _

“No, sorry. I think I’m on to something.”

_ It always works, sometimes. _

Blake’s cat ears twitched at hearing this, hopeful for anything.

“Guys, come on. What are you expecting to find? Either she’s fine and doesn't need our help or she’s dead and can’t receive it.”

Blake and Moon’s ears pressed against their heads as Moon looked back at her scroll with anger on her features and Blake supported herself on a counter to keep from collapsing.

_ Shit. Why would I say that?! Why don’t I have a filter?! _

“I’m sorry,” Yin's ears twitched apologetically. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Kinda sounded like you did,” Moon said without looking up from her scroll, her cat ears still flush with her hair in frustration. Then her face went white. “Mom, where was Mom’s mission again?”

“U-um…” Blake seemed to be roused from deep contemplation. She wiped tears away from her eyes. “It was… Higanbana, I think.”

Moon’s eyes went wide. “I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.”

Moon stood up and turned her scroll around so the others could see.

It showed an overhead view of what used to be a village. Smoke poured out of every ruined, burning house. Not a single intact building could be seen.

The title of the article was ‘Higanbana Destroyed’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we start a new adventure! I can't wait for you guys to join me on this one.
> 
> Remember, comments are always SUPER appreciated.
> 
> Have a wonderful day!


	2. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake decides to go after her wife.

“I’m going to go find her,” Blake said, with a new confidence that neither Yin nor Moon had seen for a very long time. “You know how to get food, how to treat first-aid issues, and how to contact me, so I won’t waste time teaching you something you already know.”

“You’re talking as if we’re not coming with you,” Moon said, clicking her weapon onto the back of her outfit.

“You aren’t. I’m not going to put you into that kind of danger.”

“I’m already enrolled into Beacon academy, and Moon will be next year. We’re way past that point,” Yin said, strapping her weapons to her wrists midway through packing a duffel bag. “Remind me, how old were you when you started fighting Salem to save the world?”

“This is different,” Blake protested. Then she looked at Yin. “I almost lost you once. I don’t want to do it again.”

“But we’re huntresses in training now, not little girls!” Yin frowned.

“Not to mention that the time you went to find Yin, you left me behind at the house and I  _ still _ got attacked by robots. Danger is just part of our family dynamic.”

Blake sighed. After a moment, she spoke. “You do everything I say immediately when I say it. You only attack when I deem it necessary, and if I tell you to run, you-”

“We’ll stay and fight with you,” Yin interrupted. “I’m okay with all of the conditions, except for the part about running.”

Blake sighed again, shaking her head. “That’s as good as I’m gonna get, huh?” Despite herself, she smiled. “Go get packed. I want to leave soon.”

Then Blake’s scroll rang. She picked it up off of a table top and checked the screen. The caller ID was 'Ruby’.

“Hey Rubes,” Blake said, adopting Yang’s nickname for their old team leader.

“ _ Hey, Blake. _ ” Ruby sounded hesitant about something. “ _ Have you… have you seen Yang? She’s not picking up her scroll, so I thought I’d ask you… _ ”

“No, I haven’t. Not for about a month,” Blake responded.

“ _ I was, uh, kinda hoping you had better news… _ ” Ruby said.

“I do, actually,” Blake said. “We’re going after her.”

There was silence on the other side of the line. Then Ruby’s voice returned. “ _ What airfield are you going to in Vale? _ ”

“The one on the West side, near the docks.”

“ _ I’ll meet you there, _ ” Ruby said before hanging up.

“Okay girls, are you ready to go the farthest you’ve ever gone from home?”

“The farthest Moon’s gone, maybe,” Yin said. “I’ve been to Atlas.”

“Regardless,” Moon said, hefting up her and Yin’s duffle, “Let’s go.”

___

 

The bullhead took them from Patch to the airfield, and, sure enough, Ruby was there waiting for them. Her red cape was blowing in the sudden winds that had come up, a few errant petals coming from it's end.

“Hi,” Blake said as she stepped down the ramp of the ship.

“Hey,” Ruby said, looking a bit worried.

But Moon didn’t let that expression stay. “Aunt Ruby!” she yelled, running up and giving her a huge hug.

“Hey, Moon! How are you?”

“Not dead yet!” Moon said, not releasing the hug.

Ruby laughed a little. “In the line of work you’re going into, that’s not bad!”

Moon finally pulled away, and Yin sauntered over for a much quicker hug.

“So how long has it been since I’ve seen you two?” Ruby asked with a smile.

“You haven’t seen either of them since Moon's eleventh birthday,” Blake said, walking down the ramp.

“Oh…” Ruby said, suddenly feeling awkward around the girls. “That was... a long time ago. I’m sorry, I was just-”

“Too busy with missions?” Blake completed her sentence for her, not with spite but with concern. “You don’t have to spend your whole life on missions, Ruby. The world can survive without you for a few days at a time.”

Ruby just looked at her feet, with no response.

Blake came up and hugged her. “Thank you for coming, though. It’s nice to have the support.”

Moon nodded with enthusiasm. “We’re gonna find Mom!”

Yin crossed her arms and nodded with a cocky smirk.

Ruby smiled. “Yeah, let’s go get my sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby is a bad aunt!
> 
> I'm loving the enthusiasm that you guys are having for this sequel. I'm also kinda loving that half of you are terrified of what's to come! Yay!
> 
> Comment if you would like, and have a nice day!


	3. Next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang discusses their plans.

The airship dropped them on the edge of Mistral with a bunch of other passengers. When Blake had gone on missions over the years she usually rode on bullheads instead, so her last experience with a packed airship had not been… great. Thankfully, this airship didn’t have any old love interests or deadly robots on it, and they didn’t even _see_ a Nevermore.

She was still glad to be off of it, though.

“God, that was cramped,” Yin blurted out.

“It brought us where we needed to go,” Blake said, “so I’ll give it a pass on it being uncomfortable.”

Ruby flew past them in a blur of rose petals and shouted to the world, “God, that SUCKED!”

Blake tried to look annoyed, but couldn’t stop the smile from creeping onto her face. “I guess some people don’t agree with me.”

Then she looked around. “Hey, where’s your sister?”

Yin smirked. “Unless you woke her up, she’s exactly where we left her.”

Blake rolled her eyes. Moon was many things, and an _extremely_ heavy sleeper was one of them. She re-entered the airship and, sure enough, there was Moon, slumped over in her seat with a comic book in her lap.

Blake nudged her shoulder a little roughly. It was the only way to get her up. “Hey, baby girl.”

“Oh… um… I’m awake…” Moon said, seeming to struggle in keeping said state.

“I believe you. The airship’s stopped. We’re in Mistral.” When her daughter yawned, Blake couldn’t help but find it adorable.

“Oh, okay…” Moon said, stretching but still groggy.

“Here, let me get this for you,” Blake plucked the comic book out of Moon’s lap. She had always had a particular interest in comics, sci-fi, and fantasy ever since she grew out of fairy tales.

 _Grew out of fairy tales,_ Blake couldn’t help but smirk at her own thought. _I guess that statement doesn’t make much sense in this world anymore._

“Okay,” Moon said, pushing herself out of her seat. She wobbled a bit on her feet, but she was able to follow Blake out of the ship.

Ruby was now standing near the door to the ship, waiting for them. As soon as they came out, she gave a kind smile to Moon, then started talking to Blake. “I talked to all of the huntsman and huntresses we know who are in Anima. They’ve agreed to meet us at Higanbana.”

Blake smiled, “Ruby, you didn’t have to do that…”

“I didn’t have to do much, actually,” the scarlet-cloaked woman said. “Most of them either called me or you,” she gestured to the scroll in each hand respectively. “I think they heard the news about Higanbana and wanted to make sure that Yang was… okay.”

Blake’s ears tilted downwards as she looked down at her feet out of worry.

“She’s not okay,” Yin said. “If she was, the village would have never fallen. It may have had severe property damage, but it would’ve stood.”

“Well, Higanbana’s wreckage is still the best place for us to get clues about Mom,” Moon said.

Ruby nodded. “Plus, I kinda just promised, like, eight of our friends that we would be there.”

Blake looked back up at her teammate. “Wait, when did you say we would be there?”

Ruby scratched her head trying to recall. “In about three days. That leaves us time to spend a night in a cushy hotel room here, and then two nights to get to Higanbana, just in case.”

“Where did Ruby go and who is this careful planner?” Blake joked.

“Ruby has been doing missions pretty much non-stop, so Ruby had to pick up a few skills,” Ruby said about- er- Ruby.

Blake didn’t smile. “I’m worried about you. You’re not letting yourself slow down, which is something that I learned is necessary many years ago.”

Yin and Moon, realizing that they were intruding on this discussion, walked away.

“I can’t decide _when_ people need help. I just help when it’s needed. Which tends to be often, yes.”

“You act like there aren’t many talented huntsmen and huntresses who could take these jobs instead of you.”

“I… don’t have a good response to that,” Ruby said, looking down.

Blake placed her hand on the speedster’s shoulder. “This is becoming an addiction for you. An unhealthy addiction. You haven't even seen your own sister for at least four years.”

Ruby nodded sadly and looked to the bench that Yin and Moon had sat down on. “I haven’t seen them in longer.”

Blake followed her gaze. “You could be a part of their life, you know. If you would just stop yourself sometimes, you would be the coolest aunt,” she said. “You know, Moon already looks at you as a role model. I would hate it if you led her astray.”

Ruby nodded and stared intensely at her own boots. “I’ll think on it. I promise.” Then she looked back at Blake’s face. “But first, _you_ need to find us a hotel.”

“What? Why me?”

“Do you remember the last time I picked the hotel?”

“I’ll get right on it,” Blake said, immediately taking her scroll back from Ruby to look at selections.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I though it would be interesting if Moon followed more closely after Ruby than either of her mothers. She just finds her aunt so cool that she models her life after Ruby's. That will be demonstrated even more later on.
> 
> I always love to read and respond to comments, so keep 'em coming!


	4. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night in a Mistral Hotel.

Blake woke up staring into Yang’s face.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Yang said from above her.

Blake looked around. She was in her own bed. Sunlight was coming softly through the windows. Yang touched her cheek, and she suddenly realized they were wet. She had been crying in her sleep.

“I thought you were gone,” Blake said.

Yang gently shushed her. Her hair was gleaming in the morning sunlight and her violet eyes sparkled. “It’s okay, I’m here. You were just having a dream. One that involved… a lot of crying apparently.”

Blake buried her face in her wife’s neck. “Did I wake you up?”

“It doesn’t matter. Are you okay?”

“I don’t want you to go…” Blake said.

Yang pulled away from the embrace and looked her wife straight in the eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

Then a red sword blade came through her chest. Yang’s crimson blood splattered onto Blake’s clothes. Blake’s eyes went wide with horror as the light left Yang’s. Then the sword was taken out of Yang’s chest and her lifeless body dropped on top of Blake. And there was Adam, sword stained with blood, looking down at her.

“This is what you deserve for all you’ve done,” he said with an inhuman, echoing voice. He then removed his mask, and behind it there was nothing but a void of nothingness. A void that felt like it was pulling Blake in.

So Blake reached for Gambol Shroud and slit his throat. An absurd amount of blood poured out of the wound, but he didn’t seem to be in any pain at all. He stared at her with his nothingness, and the room started flooding with his blood. Blake started holding her breath when the blood was up to her neck, but for some reason the air never stayed. So blood started filling her lungs.

___

 

Blake woke up in the middle of the night screaming, fell out of her bed, curled up against a wall and started trembling.

Naturally, it woke everyone else in the room as well. Ruby rushed to Blake’s aid as Yin and Moon watched, not knowing what to do.

_ It’s been a while since the last time this happened, _ Moon thought.

Thankfully, Ruby seemed like she was able to calm Blake down. Blake didn’t speak a word, but Ruby was able to get her to climb back onto her bed and lay down. Then she motioned for Yin and Moon to join her out in the hall.

They waited for the door to click shut. “So… how long has that been happening?” Ruby asked.

Yin and Moon looked at each other, silently deciding who should answer. “Since I was born,” Yin said solemnly, “and probably before.”

“Usually Mom- Yang… takes care of it,” Moon said. “It was happening less and less. But now…”

“Now your mother being gone is making it worse,” Ruby guessed.

“Exactly,” Moon said.

Ruby sighed. “I’m no stranger to nightmares,” she said. “I don’t think anyone who has been through what we have can be. But that… that was bad. She’s really shaken up.”

Moon nodded silently.

“It’s not about Grimm, or the Fall of Beacon, or anything. Those never tended to bother her like they would bother other people. She talks about them plainly,” Yin said. “It’s always either about her past, or any of us in her family being in danger… sometimes both.”

Ruby cocked her eyebrow at Yin suspiciously.

Yin’s ears pressed down in minor annoyance. “What? So I spied on my parents’ conversations in their bedroom once or twice. Who cares?”

“She’ll be better if we can get Mom back,” Moon said.

“I wish things were ever that simple…” Ruby said. Then she opened the door back into the room. “Now we should get back to bed. We have a big day ahead of us,” she whispered.

Yin looked further down the hallway. “Actually, I think I’m going to take a jog. Haven’t been sleeping very well myself.”

Moon looked at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just… I’m fine.”

Moon’s ears twitched, betraying the fact that she wasn’t believing Yin at all. “What was it about?” she asked.

“What?”

“Your nightmare, what was it about?”

Ruby closed the door to the room, deciding to stay in the hall for this conversation.

“I didn’t have a nightmare,” the yellow-haired faunus said defensively.

“Yes you did. You only ever jog when you have something to think about,” Moon said.

“I… you’re not supposed to do this to me.  _ I’m  _ the big sister,” Yin said.

“And as much as you pretend not to, you want to talk about it.”

“I…” Yin looked to the ground with a mildly flustered expression. “I just want to take a jog, okay? I want to be alone for a bit.”

Ruby smiled a bit. “You know, when your mother would get frustrated or deep in thought, she would go to Beacon’s weight room and pummel a punching bag into a pile of sand. That, or she would take a shower so hot that it would leave anyone else with second-degree burns,” she said. “You’re a lot like her in a lot of ways. Minus the cat ears and cheekbones, you’re almost the spitting image of her. You have her hair, her eyes, and her spirit.”

Ruby had expected this to make Yin happy, but she only frowned. “I don’t have her guts, though.”

Ruby tilted her head at this.

“She was never scared. She always knew what to do. But I’m scared. I’m scared we’re not going to find her. Scared that she’s not okay. And, if I’m honest, I’m scared of what’s going to happen to us, too,” Yin said. Then she laughed, with no humor behind it. “Some huntress I’ll make.”

Ruby smiled with as much warmth as she could muster. “Yang got scared too,” she said, pausing afterwords. “How do you think she felt after losing that arm? That’s not something that you can just take in stride, as much as she wanted to. Not to mention that me and your other mom left her behind to pursue our own goals. It tore her apart.”

“I… didn’t know that…” Yin said. “I always thought that she would’ve just rolled with the punches, I guess.”

Ruby nodded. “That’s what I thought, too. That’s why I didn’t think that I needed to stay with her. I thought that she would’ve been fine without me.” Ruby placed a gentle hand on Yin’s shoulder. “I was wrong. Even the people who seem the most fearless get scared sometimes.”

Moon nodded. “You shouldn’t bottle these emotions up. It doesn’t help anyone in the end.”

Yin looked down the hall again, then looked back. “I dreamed that Mars’ robots came back and killed Mom. But then it was the White Fang that did it, and then it was a Beowulf. Then it was me. I killed her.”

“I know that you would never do that,” Moon said.

“I don’t worry about actually killing her. I worry about her dying because of me,” Yin said. “I don’t want her to die because I’m not strong enough. Uncle Sun almost did.”

Ruby smirked. “You see, now you’re reminding me of your other mom.”

The door to the room opened and Blake’s head popped out. “I couldn’t help but eavesdrop,” she said with a forced smile. Then her face settled on a more serious expression. “Yin, I hope you know that if either me or your mother got hurt trying to keep you safe, we wouldn’t blame you for a second.”

Yin’s ears dropped even further to her head. “That kinda makes it worse,” she said.

But Blake just looked at her with a patient smile. “Trust me when I tell you: I know what you’re talking about. There was a time when it seemed like everyone who knew me was getting hurt  _ because _ they knew me. It was…” Blake searched for a word.

“Bullshit?” Ruby offered.

“Ruby!” Blake glared at her.

“No, I think bullshit applies,” Yin said.

Blake huffed. “ _ Anyways _ , I had to learn the hard way that running away from my problems just made them worse. Sometimes, the danger is worth it.”

Moon smiled. “Are you talking about Mom?”

Blake was saddened for a moment, but then seemed to cheer up. “Yes, your mother was very worth it. And… very dangerous,” she said. “But the point is, you can make your own choices, but you can’t make ours. We’ll do anything to keep you safe, and you can’t stop us. It's actually a lesson your Uncle Sun taught me.”

Yin silently nodded.

Blake outstretched her hand to her daughter. “Come on, let’s get some rest.”

Yin took the hand and let herself be led into the room. Ruby started to follow them, but hesitated at the door.

“Hey Moon,” she said, “if there’s anything  _ you _ want to talk about, I’m willing to listen.”

Moon thought for a second. “Maybe, but not tonight. I want to get my last couple hours of sleep.”

Ruby smiled. “I can get behind that idea.” They went back to their beds and slept for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please rate your nightmare experience from one to ten.
> 
> As always, I appreciate your comments and feedback. And I always respond.
> 
> Have a good day and make sure everyone around you has one, too!


	5. Roadblock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family runs into some people on the way to Higanbana.

“You know, I honestly kind of forgot what it was like walking places without using my semblance,” Ruby said.

“And?” Blake asked.

“It… kinda stinks,” Ruby responded.

Blake laughed. “If you want me to take your bag, I can.”

Ruby looked at her. “Why?”

Blake started to say something, then stopped. “I don’t know why…?”

Ruby smirked, “Blake, don’t freak out when I tell you this: I think you’re becoming a mother.”

Moon snickered. “I hope that isn’t the first time you noticed it. She’s unbearably mom-like.”

Yin chimed in, “Have you ever seen her collection of plastic bags?”

Ruby laughed out loud. “Oh my God, really?”

“Or the new apron she got for when she’s cooking?” Moon said.

“No! Don’t tell her about the apron!” Blake pleaded.

“Oh, please tell me about the apron!” Ruby said with stars in her eyes.

“It says, 'I’m the cool mom’ on it!” Moon giggled.

Ruby laughed even louder than before. “Oh my God, you’ve gone domestic!”

Blake tried to hide her embarrassment, but her cheeks were too pink for her to hide. “Look, fine, maybe I am. But it’s your sister’s fault. She brought me to this point!”

Ruby wiped the tears out of her eyes as her hysterics subsided. “I’m glad she did, though. You’ve got some pretty cool kids.”

“Aww, thanks Aunt Ruby,” Moon said. “I think  _ you’re  _ a pretty great aunt.”

“Pfft, kiss-up,” Yin said, grinning.

But Ruby’s smile faded. “You know, you don’t have to say that, Moon,” she said. “You can tell the truth, I can take it.”

“What do you mean? That  _ is _ the truth. I think you’re super cool!”

Ruby just became more uncomfortable with that comment.  _ She thinks I’m cool, and what have I done to deserve it? _

Blake stared at Ruby’s expression, as if she was trying to find a way to read her teammate's mind. “Ruby…”

Then her foot kicked something. It was light and plastic. She looked down and found a shotgun shell casing. She picked it up.

“Is that one of Mom’s?” Yin asked.

Blake turned the casing in her hands. “No. But it’s standard issue for White Fang members. Or Division Three or… whatever they’re calling themselves these days. They were here.”

Then, a bunch of faunus in nondescript grey masks surrounded them.

“Actually, they might still be here,” Ruby said.

One faunus, with a mask that had some black designs on it, stepped forward, hooves clopping against the earth. “Well, well. What do we-” he stopped when he saw the cat ears on three of the women’s heads.

“Go on, we’re listening,” Yin said with a smirk.

“Is this human treating you badly?” the man asked, but it didn’t seem like he was really looking for an answer. “Word is, they have a tendency to do that.”

“Actually, this is my aunt, Ruby Rose,” Moon said.

With the mention of Ruby’s name, there started to be murmurs through the crowd.

“And perhaps you’ve heard of Blake Belladonna? That’s her,” Yin said, pointing at Blake.

The murmurs grew much louder with the mention of that name.

“You’re some of the huntresses that took down the White Fang,” the officer said.

“Hardly,” Blake said. “We’re standing in front of them right now.”

“The White Fang was a terrorist group, filled with violent extremists and under Salem’s control. We are Division Three.”

“So, you’re a terrorist group filled with violent extremists that  _ isn’t _ under Salem’s control,” Blake smirked.

“I- no!” the man managed to spit out.

“Go home, guys. You’re out of your depth,” Blake announced to the crowd, who shuffled uncomfortably.

“I won’t let someone talk to us like that. We are a force of revolution!”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Even  _ I’ve  _ heard that before.”

“Men, to arms. These huntresses came here looking for a fight,” the hoofed faunus said.

“No, not really,” Moon said. “We came here looking for a blond woman. About yay high? Uses gauntlets as weapons?” She looked around at the guns pointed at her. “No?”

“Okay, Moon, Yin, it’s time for you to go,” Blake said.

“To hell with that. I’m gonna fight,” said Yin. She flexed her wrists and two short blades emerged from the contraptions over them.

Blake glared at her. “Yin, you’re going. I don’t want to discuss this.”

“You don’t have to discuss it. I’m fighting and there’s nothing you can say that will stop me.”

“Yeah, it’s not going to be much of a fight anyways,” Moon said.

When Moon unfolded her weapon, Ruby’s jaw dropped. It was a scythe. A scythe-gun. It had a small scythe blade on each end, and the muzzle of a shotgun on both ends as well. It was elegant, and it was obvious what it was inspired by.

Ruby retrieved said inspiration and unfolded it. Crescent Rose practically glowed red in the sunlight.

The Division Three troops hesitated.

It wasn’t until their leader took out his lance that they started to attack.

Yin set her sights on the closest lackey. “Heads up!” she yelled, before using her semblance to send an orb of light into his head at high speeds. He went crashing back-first through a tree. Yin then set her sights on the next faunus. She knocked the gun out of the girl’s hand with one strike of a blade, then the blade on her other hand retracted and a plate of metal covered Yin’s fist. The faunus looked down at her hand, and then back up at her face with a terrified look in her eyes. Yin winked, and then punched the living daylights out of the Division Three soldier.

Ruby wasn’t having any difficulty. She had faced some of the most dangerous creatures in all of Remnant, so a few dozen White Fang (she refused to call them Division Three) troops was a piece of cake.

Then she started watching Moon. Her fighting form was excellent for someone of her age and experience level. She would be fighting two or three enemies at a time, and she would keep her composure. Her double scythe spun into her enemies with great skill. She even did some acrobatics to dodge a few strikes that Ruby wished she had known how to do at Signal. But Ruby could also tell that she was missing a few of the tricks for scythe-wielding.

_ Tricks you could have taught her, dolt,  _ said Weiss’s voice in Ruby’s head. Mostly because Weiss was always the most skilled at criticizing her.

Ruby felt a sword clash against her aura, and she was knocked to the ground.

_ You should have been paying attention to your own fight. _

_ Shut up, Conscience Weiss. _

_ Dolt. _

Her train of thought was interrupted as she had to roll out of the way of a stab.

Blake went for the leader of the group. She thought it would be an easy fight, but he was well trained. He charged with vigor but didn’t leave himself open to attack.

When she had used yet another clone to take a hit, she went in for the attack. But she wasn’t prepared for the sheer speed of the lance's side crashing into her ribcage. She went careening through the air as the Division Three leader turned on his hooves.

Yin was just about done with win number seven when her mom smashed into a tree beside her. She got back up, but looked a little strained.

So Yin decided to wrap things up. “Hey Moon!”

“You want a flash?”

“Yeah, go for it!”

Ruby watched Blake and Yin shield their eyes. Then she looked at Moon, and everything that used to be black on her body was glowing white. Then, suddenly,  _ all _ that Ruby could see was white, and her ears were ringing. She stumbled around for a bit, trying to figure out where she was.

Eventually, her hearing came back, and all that she could hear was Moon saying, “I’m sorry! Aunt Ruby, I’m really sorry!”

“Hey Moon, it’s okay. Is that your semblance?”

As Ruby’s vision started coming back, she could see Moon nodding. “I essentially create a flash-bang with my hair.”

“That’s pretty cool. A little more warning would be nice next time, though.”

“I’m so sorry! I just haven’t fought with anyone that wasn’t in my immediate family before.” Moon almost sounded frantic.

“Shh, it’s okay Moon. I’m fine.” Ruby rubbed the rest of the whiteness out of her eyes. “I’m actually kind of used to that sensation by now.” She pointed to her silver eyes.

“Nice work,” Yin said, giving her sister a high five. Behind her were the unconscious bodies of all of the Division Three (White Fang) members, along with Blake, who was tying rope around their hands.

“So, are we done here?” Ruby asked.

“No,” Blake said, pulling up the leader by his collar. “We have some questions to ask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that I've been adding tags as we go along. I'm going to add Conscience Weiss, because who doesn't love Conscience Weiss?
> 
> I want to thank every one of you for being super supportive. You guys are the reason why I keep posting!
> 
> Thanks, and have a good afternoon and evening.


	6. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake tries to get some information from the leader of the Division Three ambush.

“Wakey, wakey,” Yin said, having poured some water on the Division Three leader’s face, now no longer covered by his mask.

“Fuck you,” he spat, and Yin moved her foot right before the saliva hit her shoe.

“Rude,” Yin said, walking back to the others, who were standing nearby.

Then Blake walked up to him and kneeled down to be at his level as he sat, bound on the ground.

“We have a few questions that you’re going to answer,” she said.

“Says who?” the faunus scoffed.

Then Blake hit him across the face with the hilt of her sword. The impact left a cut on his cheek. All of her party’s eyes widened.

“Says that,” Blake said calmly. Then she stood up so that he had to look up at her. “So, first question. Have you seen my wife?” She took out a picture of her and Yang.

“That’s disgusting,” the leader said. “A human and a faunus in a relationship? And a  _ gay _ one at that.”

Blake kicked him in the side so hard that he fell over. “Wrong answer. Try again.”

Ruby wasn’t sure if she should intervene. They needed answers, sure, but was  _ this _ the only way to get them?

Blake put her heeled foot on the faunus’s chest. “I’m waiting for an answer.”

The man coughed at the pressure on his sternum. “I don’t know!”

Blake pressed her shoe more dramatically into his chest. “Wrong again. You’ve got one more shot.”

Moon turned away and covered her ears- all four of them.

Ruby knew it was time to step in. “Blake-”

“Ruby.” Blake was giving her a look that said 'let me do this’. Ruby backed off.

“I’m not hearing an answer,” Blake said, leaning into her foot.

“Okay, okay!” he choked out. Blake eased the pressure off ever-so-slightly. “We were sent to destroy Higanbana. Our leader wanted the place taken care of. But he told us that if we found that woman,” he pointed to the picture, “that we were to capture her.”

Blake looked him straight in the eye. “Capture? As in alive?”

The man nodded.

“Who captured her?” Blake’s eyes narrowed.

The faunus gave a half-hearted laugh. “I can’t tell you that!”

“Oh, you can’t?” Blake pressed her entire weight into the man’s chest. He yelled in pain.

Yin shook her head and started walking away into the forest. Ruby tightened her muscles, trying her hardest not to interfere.

Then Blake lightened the weight a bit. “So?”

“Nectarine did it, okay?! It was Nectarine! She’s probably still in a camp around Higanbana!” the man practically screamed out.

Blake, to Ruby’s relief, removed her foot from the man’s chest. “Thank you for your cooperation,” she said, walking back to the others.

“You’re just like the humans,” the man said from the ground. “You don’t care if faunus are being oppressed. You don’t care at all. I bet your wife treats you like a pet, and you LIKE IT!”

Blake stopped. There was silence for a moment. Then it was broken by the sound of Blake’s sword coming out of its sheath.

Ruby acted on instinct. She grabbed Blake from the back and pinned her arms. Blake writhed in her grasp and swiped at the air with her sword fruitlessly.

“Blake, knock it off!” Ruby shouted.

“Ruby, let go!” Blake protested.

Ruby turned Blake in her arms to face her. “Blake, what is wrong with you?! He’s tied up and the Mistral police are going to deal with him!”

Then Blake seemed to notice Moon for the first time, averting her eyes and trying desperately not to hear what was happening. Blake’s anger faded, and then she looked down at her sword.

“Oh my God, I almost just did that,” she said.

Ruby released her. “We’re going to find her, Blake. But we can’t lose our heads in the meantime.”

Blake resheathed her sword. “I’m sorry,” she said weakly, her voice wavering as tears started to well up in her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right! Listen to the human!  _ Let  _ her rule your life!” the faunus on the ground said.

Ruby dashed over in a blur of rose petals and knocked him out, just so he would shut up.

Blake placed her hand on Moon’s shoulder, and she jumped from the sudden contact. When she turned to face her mother, she had tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Honey,” Blake said before pulling her into a hug.

“I’m sorry, I just… I wasn’t ready for that,” Moon said with a trembling voice.

“I should have never done it,” Blake said, squeezing her daughter one more time before parting the hug.

Moon wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Do you know where Yin is?” Blake asked.

Moon pointed into the forest.

“Okay, I’ll go get her,” Blake said softly.

___

 

Blake found Yin sitting with her back against a tree.

“Yin?” she called, but she already knew it was her.

“Who’s asking? My mother, or White Fang Lieutenant Belladonna?”

Blake stopped approaching. “Honey, I know that was hard to watch.”

“Wow, great observational skills. Gold star.”

Blake saw that Yin wasn’t even looking at her. “I lost control. I’m willing to admit that,” Blake said. “Honey, you know how I am when I’m worried about someone.”

“Apparently I don’t,” Yin said, still not making eye contact.

They paused for a moment, Blake not knowing what to say and Yin not wanting to talk.

Then Blake decided to speak up. “You’re mad at me, and I  _ do  _ deserve it. I just want you to know that it’s not going to happen again.”

Yin finally looked at Blake, and though her eyes didn’t change colors like her mother’s, Blake could tell that they would be red if they did.

“Yeah, that seems like a really easy claim to make when you’re not angry,” Yin said. “But when things get heated, you’re going to go back on your word.”

“No, I’m not,” Blake said, trying to stay calm. She was in the wrong, after all. “I don’t want you to see that side of me ever again. It won’t happen again.”

Yin turned away from Blake again, but nodded. Blake took that as a sign that she could come closer.

When Blake kneeled down next to her, Yin spoke. “I’ll believe you. I’ve never seen you like that before, so I’ll trust that I won’t see you like that again.”

“You won’t,” Blake said. Then she decided to change the subject. “That was some good fighting I saw back there. Beacon’s teaching you well.”

“No, you and Mom are,” Yin said. “No one could teach me like you two could. It’s kind of why I chose the weapon I did. So that I could learn from both of you.”

“Well, it’s paying off,” Blake smiled.

“Please don’t tell us to run again.”

“Huh?” Blake was surprised by the sudden request.

Yin looked her in the eye. “Moon and I are becoming huntresses. We’re skilled fighters, Moon maybe even more so than me. We want to save people and defeat monsters and foil evil plans,” Yin said. “And your first instinct was to tell us to run. Cower in fear while you and Aunt Ruby fight the good fight.”

Blake nodded sadly. “It’s always going to be my first impulse,” she said. “I’m your mother. Worrying about you is something that I’m psychologically obligated to do. You remember how I acted when you said that you wanted to go to Signal. And I was the same with Moon. But, I’m trying to bury that impulse, because I know that you can handle yourselves. You aren’t weak. You’ve proven that. And I’ll try to respect that.”

Yin stood up. “Thanks. I think I’m ready to join the others now.” She extended a hand to pull Blake back up to her feet.

Blake nodded and took her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blake is kinda mad.
> 
> Hey, does anyone know how to post an image on this site? I actually have a concept drawing of Moon's scythe, and I'd like to show it. So, let me know how to do that!
> 
> I hope you all have wonderful days. Stay safe, and stay happy!


	7. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big meetup, featuring everyone.

They arrived at the ruins of Higanbana only a little bit before schedule. But, even so, a few huntsmen were already there.

Blake gave Velvet a calm hug, and Ruby nearly knocked Jaune off of his feet with a tackle hug. Nora hugged Ren just to feel included.

“It’s nice to see you again, Velvet!” Blake said. “If you don’t mind me asking, where’s Coco?”

“She’s in the middle of a mission, but she sends her love,” Velvet said. “She would be here if she could be.”

“But you being here means the world to me. Thank you so much for agreeing to help,” Blake said.

“JAAAAAUUNNNE!” Ruby yelled, mid-hug assault. “It’s so good to see you!” Then she looked at Ren and Nora. “You guys, too. God, when was the last time we saw each other?”

Nora chimed in, “I think it was Vacuo. When you were cutting apart a giant sandworm and you literally fell on top of us.”

“Oh yeah!” Ruby said. “How is your back after that, Jaune?”

“Well, you didn’t do it any favors but I’m fine,” Jaune said with a smile. “I started packing as soon as you called me. We’re going to make sure that Yang is safe.”

Ren nodded. “She’s too strong to go down without a fight. I’m certain that she left some signs for us to follow.”

Nora looked behind Ruby. “Oh. My. God. Are those Yin and Moon? The huntresses in training? Can I get your autographs?”

Moon giggled. “Hi, Nora.”

Nora walked up and ruffled Yin’s hair. “I haven’t seen either of you since Blake’s birthday party. Sorry I wasn’t able to come to yours.”

“But I got your present!” Yin said. “The band t-shirt was awesome, but I don’t really know why you sent me 27 coasters…”

Nora stifled a giggle, then just let it happen. “Sorry, it was an inside joke.”

Jaune and Ren also went over to talk to Yin and Moon. But Ruby just stood there.  _ They think it’s been too long, and they’ve seen them only a couple of months ago. What kind of an aunt am I? _

Velvet looked at where JNR had gone. “Your kids look like they’re becoming good huntresses.” She pulled out her camera and snapped a picture of the two.

Blake nodded. “It wasn’t easy letting Yin go to Signal. It still wasn’t easy with Moon. But neither of them have made me regret it.”

Then a bullhead landed next to them. Team SSSN jumped out of it.

“Whoa, are we missing the heartfelt reunion?” Sun joked.

“Uncle Sun!” Yin shouted. Then she shot an orb of light at him, which he dodged easily.

“Aw, too slow. Maybe next time, slugger!” Sun yelled back to her.

“Damn it!” she returned, to Blake’s dismay.

Neptune whispered to Sun, “Is this normal?”

Sun whispered back, “Yeah, it’s just a game we play with each other.”

“Okay, cool.”

Blake and Ruby both went to greet the new arrivals. Yin and Moon waited their turn, but then a sudden, “Boo!” from behind them alerted them to the last arrival, whose color changed from black to a normal skin tone after she spooked them.

“Hey, Ilia,” Yin said after recovering from the shock.

Moon looked her up and down. “Can you not scare me like that, like, ever again please?”

Ilia laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Then Moon thought for a second. “Hey, why would Aunt Ruby have your phone number?”

“What do you mean? I’ve just been investigating Division Three’s part in the destruction of this town,” Ilia said. Then she seemed to notice the rest of the people in the Higanbana ruins. “What brings all of  _ you _ here?”

“Mom was here, and she’s gone missing,” Yin said.

“Wait, Blake’s missing?!” Ilia exclaimed.

“No, other Mom,” Yin said, gesturing to Blake, who was no longer obscured by Sage’s tall figure.

“Oh,” Ilia said. Then she took a double-take. “Wait,  _ Yang’s _ missing?!”

“Yeah,” Moon said. “And, conveniently, it seems Division Three is involved. So, would you like to help us find her?”

Ilia nodded. “Nothing would make me happier.”

“Good,” Blake said, walking up to Ilia. “That means that you get a hug.”

Ilia accepted the embrace, and her skin only turned a little bit pink. Then when it ended, Ilia said, “I’ve found a nearby Division Three camp.”

“You have?” Blake said with excitement.

“Yeah, it’s quite big. I’ve just been doing reconnaissance, because I didn’t think that I could take it down alone, but…” Ilia looked over Blake’s shoulder at the nine other trained huntsmen and huntresses in the ruins, “I don’t think that’s a problem anymore.”

“Yeah, with all of us, this should be easy,” Moon said, pumping her fist.

“Well then,” Blake announced, “I guess there’s no reason to hang around here. Let’s get going!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of tags to add...
> 
> You can comment. I can help. That's the power of the Ao3 commenting algorithm.


	8. Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not Camp Camp. Just a camp. A camp where faunus are camped out in the camp

Two Division Three members were guarding one side of the camp.

“Hey,” one said.

“Yeah?” the other returned.

The first one paused for a couple of seconds. “Do you ever wonder why we’re-”

Then an electric whip came out of the darkness and knocked him out.

The other drew his gun. “Who’s there?!”

He was not expecting the bullet he got as an answer. His aura dropped and he fell unconscious on the ground next to his friend.

Then thirteen trained huntsmen and huntresses came flooding out of the woods. The Division Three members in the camp drew their weapons and opened fire.

Blake stopped her daughters. “Yin, Moon…”

“Yes, Mom?” Yin said, with a look that said 'you promised me not to do this’.

Blake took a deep breath to calm herself. “Go get ‘em.”

Yin grinned and Moon got a determined look on her face. They charged in.

___

 

In the end it could hardly be called a battle. Sage swung his giant sword, taking out multiple enemies at a time. Sun performed acrobatic attacks that the soldiers couldn’t get a chance to predict before they got a kick to the face. Jaune and Scarlet both showed their expertise in swordsmanship, which far exceeded those of their attackers. Nora did… what Nora does. Her victims were lucky to just be unconscious. Ren fought from the shadows, in stark contrast to Ruby, who went from target to target in a blur of red and left her enemies black and blue. Velvet didn’t waste her weapon, opting instead to use her skills in martial arts. It was still pretty effective. Neptune electrocuted people from farther away, playing the role of support in this conflict. Ilia had clearly improved her fighting skills even more, as she placed her strikes precisely and painfully. Blake switched between range and melee fighting, using her copies to cause general confusion in the Division Three troops. And Yin and Moon did their mother proud with the skills that they showed.

When it was all over, most of them weren’t even tired.

“Who here is Nectarine?” Blake asked in a projected voice so that all of the tied up Division Three troops who  _ weren’t  _ unconscious could hear. When none of them responded, she asked, “Alright, who here can point to Nectarine?”

Three of the troops pointed to one woman’s unconscious body, which was placed unceremoniously face-first in the dirt.

“Thank you,” Blake said. She walked over to the faunus woman and turned her over on the ground.

“Um, Blake?” Ruby said. “Maybe you should let someone else handle the questioning this time.”

Blake stopped, then nodded and stepped back from the deer faunus.

___

 

Ilia was voted to be the one who interrogated their enemies, but from the objects being thrown out of the tent, it seemed to Blake like it wasn’t going well. The rest were scouring the camp, looking for any clues, and they were seeming to have a similarly small degree of success.

Then Nectarine woke up, just as Ilia was storming out of her umpteenth interrogation.

“Finally,” Ilia said. “Everyone’s been telling me that you’re the only one with any of these answers. Time for a chat.” To the protests of the deer faunus, she dragged her against the side of the tent, too fed up to go inside this time, apparently.

“So, we’re looking for a friend,” Ilia said.

“If you’re talking about the blonde huntress then I can tell you exactly where she is and how to find her and what condition she’s in and who requested her capture and… and… just please don’t hurt me or any of my men…”

Blake and Ilia looked at each other with confused glances. “Yeah, that would be great,” Ilia said.

“Are we talking about the huntress with the blond hair, purple eyes, and the prosthetic arm?” Nectarine asked in nervously quick speech.

“Yes, where did you send her?” Blake said, impatient.

“Well, we kept her here for a few days. But she was more trouble than she was worth and we ended up sending her to-”

She was cut off by the bullet that went clean through her head.

“Shit!” Ilia yelled. All the huntsmen took out their weapons and looked around them. Then Ilia pointed up into a tree as her skin turned red and yellow. “It’s a chameleon faunus like me!”

Ruby didn’t even look before she fired a shot where Ilia was pointing. A camouflaged, green figure carrying a similarly camouflaged sniper rifle jumped out and into the next tree over. Ruby, Ren, Neptune and Blake all fired into the trees, with little success.

“Don’t let them get away!” Blake yelled, as she charged into the forest with several of the other huntsmen. They kept firing at the trees, but at a certain point it was obvious that the assassin had given them the slip.

“God DAMMIT!” Blake yelled. “We were so close!”

Moon and Ruby both came to comfort her, saying things like, “We’ll find another way,” and, “She’s going to be okay.” Blake just shook her head and tried to hold back the tears from losing all of their progress.

___

 

Ilia came out of the tent and shook her head. “Nothing. I think Nectarine was the only one who knew where Yang went.”

“Sooo… dead end?” Sun asked.

Ilia nodded.

Moon looked down at her feet. “So… we have no clues to go off of.”

“It seems not,” Ren said.

Ruby sighed. “I guess we just have to keep looking.”

“No, we don’t,” Blake said.

“What do you mean?” Nora asked.

Yin looked at her incredulously. “Are you saying that we should give up?!”

“No, I’m not. But I’ve thought of a way we can find her,” Blake said. “I’m just… not exactly happy about it.”

“Well, what is it?” Velvet asked.

Blake looked at her daughters. “Are you two ready to meet your grandmother?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to JCurse for somehow managing to leave two kudos on this story. I have no idea how you did it, but thanks!
> 
> And some of you called it: Raven Branwen will be in this story. This should be fun.
> 
> Feel free to comment, and have a fantabulistic day!


	9. Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake forms a strategy for their little 'chat' with Raven.

After Blake explained the situation a little longer to her daughters, Moon’s hand shot up.

“Moon, you’re not in school,” Blake said. “Just ask what you want to ask.”

“Isn’t grandma… you know… dead?”

Blake shook her head. “No. That’s the mother that raised your mother, not her blood relative. You’re thinking of Summer Rose, Aunt Ruby’s mom. Raven Branwen, Yang’s biological mother… ran away when she was quite young.”

Yin crossed her arms. “Why haven’t either you or Mom told us about this before?”

“That’s my fault,” Blake said. “I… didn’t want you associating yourselves with Raven. She’s… not exactly what one would call a 'good person’.”

Moon tilted her head and her ears betrayed her curiosity.

“Okay, let me tell you what Yang told me about her mother,” Blake continued. “First, her leaving gave Yang some major abandonment issues. Second, she made a rule to only ever save Yang’s life once. If Raven had been there, Yang might not have lost her arm. Third, she lied to everyone about the spring maiden. It turned out to be her all along.”

“Wait, our grandmother is the spring maiden?!” Yin’s arms dropped to her sides and her jaw almost did, too.

“Yes. She tried to take the relic of Haven academy, too. Yang had to talk her out of it.”

“You forgot number four,” Ruby said, slowing down her walking speed to join them. “She opened up a portal for Cinder Fall to throw a fireball at my gut after I gave a triumphant speech about teamwork.”

“Wow,” Moon said. “She…”

“She sounds like a bitch,” Yin completed.

“Yin!” Blake scolded.

Yin just shrugged. “Am I wrong?”

“No, not really,” Jaune joined them. “She’s the reason that Haven almost fell. If she hadn’t teleported  _ Cinder _ ,” there was a bit of venom when he said that name, “and her lackeys, we probably could have succeeded much easier. Not to mention that Weiss wouldn’t have gotten stabbed.”

“Good times,” Ruby said.

“So, you think that she’s going to help us?” Moon asked.

“Honestly? No,” Blake said. “But we’re out of options.”

“So, what’s our plan of attack?” Neptune asked, walking slower to keep pace with the rest of the group.

“We can’t all go in there at once. She’ll never talk to us if she thinks we’re grouped up to attack her tribe,” Blake said.

“So, we’re  _ not _ attacking her tribe?” Ruby asked.

“Not if we can help it,” Blake said. “They may be killers and thieves, but Raven won’t listen to us if we attack her killers and thieves.”

“So where should we be?” Jaune asked, assuming that Blake would be the one to do the talking.

“Find the nearest trees that you can and hide in them. Keep an eye on the situation and move in if things get bad. Velvet has superior hearing, so she should be able to pick out what we’re saying for you guys.” Then Blake turned to her daughters. “You two will stay with me.”

Yin groaned. “Mom, we don’t need you to protect us!”

“I know that now,” Blake said. “I need you to protect  _ me _ . I give this a 50/50 chance of either devolving into a shouting match or turning into an all-out fight. I want some help nearby if that happens, and you two look like me, so that should make the members of the tribe a little less suspicious.”

“Wow, I uh…” Yin was at a loss for words, suddenly feeling like she was being treated as an adult. “Thanks, Mom.”

“However,” Blake said, “even in her old age and even  _ without _ her maiden powers, Raven is a tough enemy. Don’t take her on alone.” She looked to everyone else. “None of us should.”

“Aye aye,” said Nora, suddenly deciding to join into the conversation.

“Alright,” Blake said. “We all know the plan, let’s go meet the most dangerous woman in Anima.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plan is set.
> 
> Comment if you would like. I know there isn't a whole lot to talk about in this chapter, but y'know.
> 
> Have a unique and positive day!


	10. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven is not a nice person.

“No, I’m not going to let you see Raven Branwen,” the tribe guard said. “Turn around and go back the way you came.”

“Yin, would you like to give our response?” Blake asked.

“I would love to,” Yin said. Then she cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “WHAM!”

An orb of light sent the man tumbling into the center of the camp. Every person in the tribe drew a weapon and pointed it at them.

“What’s going on here?” said a woman exiting the main tent. Her clothing was black and red, and she had an odachi at her hip. She wore a Grimm mask that covered her entire face, and had dark, black hair. _Raven_ black hair.

Moon’s eyes widened slightly when she realized who this was.

Raven then looked at her tribe’s assailants, and it was obvious even through the mask that she was rolling her eyes. “Stand down,” she said to her tribesmen. “This is my daughter’s partner.”

A groan came from the mouth of almost every tribesman as they obeyed. It seemed to Moon that Yang wasn’t very popular around here.

“Yes, I am,” Blake said. “And I’m here because she’s missing.”

“She’s a big girl, I’m sure she can handle herself,” Raven said, removing her mask. The similarities between Yang and Raven became brutally obvious to Blake’s children.

“She’s been missing for a month,” Blake said, clenching a fist.

“And it’s my problem because…?” Raven strummed her fingers on a piece of wood.

“I don’t know, maybe because she’s your daughter?” Blake said through her teeth. “And it doesn’t have to be your problem. All we need is a portal to get to her.”

“No, for several reasons. One, I made a promise, one that I’ve already broken once before. A promise to let her save herself. And two, I haven’t made a portal to her since Haven, and I don’t plan to start now. Sorry, but you’ll need to go to someone else.”

“Why, because you’re too scared to help? I know your little ‘maiden’ secret, and I know that you’re not at all weak. You could save your daughter easily, and you don’t even have to put your head on the line at all.”

“This isn’t about me, this is about her. Yang needs to deal with her problems on her own,” Raven raised her hand, and dark clouds started to billow and rumble above them. “Now, leave before I stop giving you the option to.”

Blake glared into Raven’s crimson eyes, and was met with the same gaze. “Fine, we’ll find another way. Come on, girls.”

Blake and Yin turned back and started walking away. Moon started to follow but then stopped and turned back to Raven.

“It was nice meeting you anyways, Grandma.”

Raven’s hostile expression seemed to shatter. Moon turned back around to follow her family, before they all stopped at the sound of Raven laughing. Hysterically.

“Is something funny?” Blake asked with much hostility.

“YOU?! My daughter married you?!” She was interrupted by another burst of her own laughter. “Oh my God. Oh my God. My daughter has a faunus fetish. That’s priceless!” She was almost doubled over giggling.

Blake’s eyes narrowed, but her voice was calm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think that anyone had _ever_ asked for your opinion. I thought that you wouldn’t have been so delusional to think that you have any say in your daughter’s life after you abandoned her. I guess you _are_ that delusional.”

From the trees, Velvet put her hand over her mouth partly in surprise, and partly in pride.

Raven’s hand grasped her sword’s hilt. “You shouldn’t cross me, girl. It’s a dangerous thing to do.” The storm clouds started to swirl.

“Hah,” Blake laughed. “Dangerous.” She whipped out her pistol and cocked it at Raven.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Both of you calm down!” Yin got in between them. “Look, I know that _you_ might not be a particular fan of my mother’s choices, and _you_ might not like the way that Raven is talking to you, but that’s not a good reason to start fighting. Don’t act like children.”

Raven studied Yin’s face for a moment. “You _do_ look like her.”

Then she drew her sword.

Blake whipped her sword up to defend her children, but Raven just slashed the air. A red and black portal opened where she did.

“Very well,” Raven said. “But I have a few conditions. First…”

Ruby almost fell out of the tree when Raven looked directly at her.

“All of you, out,” Raven commanded. “Being part bird has its perks. I could see you this whole time.”

The huntsmen and huntresses exited the trees, albeit a little guiltily.

“Second,” Raven continued, “only my daughter’s direct family is allowed to enter the portal. Everyone else stay here or go somewhere else.”

Ruby dashed up next to Blake with a smile as if Raven was specifically addressing her.

“Lastly,” Raven said before heading into her tent and coming back out, two yellow objects in hand, “these belong to her. We found them when we scavenged Higanbana.” She tossed a prosthetic arm and Ember Celica onto the ground in front of Yin, who promptly picked them up.

Moon smiled. “Thank you, Grandma-”

“And never let her call me that again!” Raven demanded, before waving all of her troops away and entering her tent, leaving the portal open.

Blake walked up to Sun. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. I’ll keep 'em in line,” Sun said. “I should be asking _you_ that. You’re about to jump blindly into somewhere that you have no idea where it is, though it’s likely behind enemy lines. Are _you_ gonna be okay?”

“No, not until Yang is safe at home,” Blake said.

“And she will be,” Moon said, squeezing her mother’s shoulder.

“Not anytime soon if we don’t get going,” Yin said, gesturing to the portal.

Blake couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Ruby excitedly shouted, “Let’s go team RMBY, rescue team!”

And then, Ruby, Yin, Moon, and Blake all stepped into the portal at the same time.

___

 

It closed behind them.

They found themselves in a room bathed in red light, with a single window looking out at the moon, its blue light clashing with the red from the lights. The room looked like some sort of large boiler room, pipes extending from one of the walls and a bunch of valves popping out of them.

Of course, none of them noticed this, because their eyes were immediately drawn to the blonde chained to the wall.

Yang was absolutely covered in cuts and bruises, her clothes stained with her own blood. She was slumped over, sitting against the wall, and only the slight, shaky breathing was any proof that she was alive. Her remaining arm was clutching her torso in pain.

“Yang?” Blake said softly, tears at the corners of her eyes.

Blake was prepared for many emotions in Yang’s face. She was prepared for sadness, joy, anger, pain.

But when Yang looked up at her, all she could see in that face was pure fear.

“No, no you can’t be here!” Yang practically screamed. “Get out of here! You’re giving him exactly what he wants!”

Ruby looked as scared as Yang did. “Yang, who?”

Then Blake felt the presence behind her.

“Hello, darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm super sick right now, but the show must go on! I will soldier through it for you guys!!!
> 
> As always, feel free to comment and tell me how you're liking the story so far, or give me suggestions for what you would like to see in the future.
> 
> (P.S. I'm kinda dissappointed that noone commented on the Red Vs. Blue reference from a few chapters ago.)


	11. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeere's ADAM!

“Adam. I thought you were dead.”

Blake said this through her teeth and without turning around.

“My death may have been an exaggeration. I-”

But Blake was already swinging her sword at him. He blocked once, twice, three times. He then punched her in the face and she stumbled backwards.

“Mom, who is this?” Yin asked, extending her blades.

“Adam Taurus,” Blake said.

Yin’s eyes widened. “Fuck,” she said, recognizing the name.

Moon drew her weapon too, but Blake raised a hand. “He’s mine. Help your mother out of her chains.”

Adam grinned when he heard this. Moon glanced at Blake. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Yin and Moon hesitated, but then went to their chained-up mother.

Adam still had that smirk on his face. “So, it’s just you and-”

Blake slashed at his head. He blocked her swipes over and over, his sword and hair glowing more red each time. But Blake didn’t care that she was charging his semblance, that she was making him stronger. She just wanted him dead.

She struck his sword again, and then he resheathed the blade. Blake knew what that meant. She leapt to the side as the world went red, the moon shining clearly through it. The sword just grazed her, but it shredded completely through her aura and left her with a small cut on her side.

She didn’t care. He hurt her wife. He was going to pay.

“Mom, she’s going to need our help,” Yin said to Yang.

Yang weakly nodded with a lump in her throat. “He’s not what he used to be. There’s something… different about him.”

“We need to get you out of these chains,” Yin said, attempting fruitlessly to cut through the links.

“Here, let me try,” Moon said, and Yin backed up. Moon dropped her scythe onto the floor, donning Ember Celica. When she thrust her left arm, the mechanism caused the gauntlet to fully extend. With three quick shots, the chain shattered. Then Moon tossed Yang her arm and gauntlet.

“Okay,” Yin said, helping her mother to her feet. Yang stumbled and almost collapsed until Yin grabbed her. “Whoa, maybe you should take it easy.”

“Blake’s fighting recklessly. She’s gonna die if she keeps this up,” Yang tried her hardest to balance on her own.

“We won’t let her,” Moon said, picking her scythe back up.

Yin propped her mother against a wall. “Yeah, we’ll take care of it. You rest.”

Yang smiled through the pain. “There they are, my little huntresses.”

Yin and Moon attacked.

Blake had enough to deal with, keeping herself alive against all of Adam’s strikes. But now her children were in the fray.

Moon lead with a spinning dual scythe, which Adam kept at bay easily. Then Yin came in with a flurry of swipes with her wrist-blades. Equally as easily blocked. Adam’s hair glowed from the impacts.

“Get out of the way!” Blake yelled at her children.

“No, we can do this!” Yin protested. She kept trying to strike with her blades, before deciding to fold them into punching form. When her fist connected with Adam’s sword, the force caused him to slide backwards a bit. Then Moon hopped in front of Yin and started spinning her scythe and shooting its shotguns at the same time. Adam was pressured, but he had too much room to maneuver and was able to block or dodge all of the attacks. Then he attacked, and Moon was ready to block, until Blake did it for her.

Blake pressed down harder with her sword. “Adam, you made a big mistake hurting my wife.”

“No,” Adam said. “You made the mistake of coming after her.”

He then activated his semblance, and Gambol Shroud shattered in the moonlight.

Blake was able to get out of the way of the rest of the strike, but her weapon was reduced to a bunch of broken pieces. Moon and Yin stepped in front of her.

Adam laughed. “Letting your own children be your bodyguards? Oh Blake, my love, how the mighty have fall-”

He winced in pain as a giant, red scythe was embedded into his back.

“You know,” Ruby said, “I think he forgot I was here.”

Yin and Blake smirked, and Moon started giggling.

But something felt wrong to Ruby. He hadn’t taken a single hit yet, so why didn’t his aura block that? And why was the blood oozing out of his wound-

“Black,” she said aloud. “His blood is black.”

Adam Taurus pushed himself back to his feet and forced the scythe out of his back.

“Adam,” Blake glared, “what have you done to yourself?”

“A little parting gift from Salem,” he said. Then he ripped his coat off. His entire body was replaced by Grimm pieces. He had two extra, clawed arms, and bone plating covering his chest. His body twitched and made some cracking noises as bone spikes began protruding from all four of his arms.

“Welp, this vision is going to haunt me forever. Thanks for that,” Yin said.

“I would like to remind everyone here that Blake once dated this guy,” Yang yelled from the back of the room.

“Gee thanks, Yang,” Blake rolled her eyes and looked at her wife with a smile. “I can’t believe I missed you so much.”

Then she was struck in the back with an arm that stretched much farther than it should have been able to. She went sailing into the back wall, leaving a small dent and causing her much pain.

“Mom!” Yin yelled, before resuming her attack on Adam, who not only blocked it with his sword, but used one of his other arms to grab her by the face and throw her into the ground.

“Yin!” Ruby and Moon shouted in sync. They both began an assault with their scythes, but found the bone armor to be surprisingly tough. Ruby had been lucky to get that first hit.

Moon was sent tumbling by a flick of Adam’s sword into her aura, but she got back up and kept up the pressure. Ruby sent slash after slash in Adam’s direction, but nothing went through. Yin got back up and started punching, without much success.

They heard a voice behind them say, “Move!”

They did, just as Yang sent an explosive blast into Adam’s chest, sending him crashing through the wall. The huntresses went into the next room after him.

This room was large, and filled with Division Three troops. Gasps rang out amongst the crowd.

“Kill them!” Adam ordered, drawing his sword again.

But the troops didn’t draw their weapons at the huntresses. They drew them at the Grimm monstrosity that was Adam and started backing away.

“Guess you should’ve told them about the monster you had become,” Yang said, wincing from pain. “Seriously, you look really fucked up.”

Adam just charged them. He brought his sword up and activated his semblance as he hurtled at Yang. That was when he got stabbed in the leg by a wrist-blade. He lost his balance, and the momentum carried him into a wall, cratering it.

Blake looked at him with disgust. “You were once supposed to be a leader. A revolutionary. A sign of hope. Now you’re _really_ just a monster.”

Ruby smirked. “Yeah, weren’t you supposed to be helping the faunus instead of obsessing over your crush?”

She used her semblance to speed out of the way as a claw came crashing down where she had stood.

“Fuck you! Fuck all of you!” Adam’s speech had devolved into growling.

“Ooo, somebody’s losing their temper!” Yin smiled.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Moon said, playfully slapping her sister’s arm.

“What, I have been perfectly calm this entire trip, thank you very much!” Yin protested.

Ruby grabbed Yin’s hand. “Oh God, please don’t become another Weiss.”

“HEY! DON’T IGNORE ME!” Adam yelled at the top of his Grimm-infused lungs.

“Sorry, Adam. I guess you just don’t scare us anymore,” Blake smiled.

“I will admit, I was scared for a bit. But that was mostly torture-induced,” Yang said.

“You will FEAR ME!” Adam roared, then lunged at Moon.

He didn’t get far. He was sliced in two mid-lunge.

But none of the huntresses had done it.

Raven Branwen sheathed her sword. “If you five are done catching up with old friends,” she said, “I need you back at the camp. We’re under attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I woke up at 4am from a fever dream and haven't slept since. I'm so tired.
> 
> So, uh, do the commenting thing and all that if you would like.
> 
> Before you guys get disappointed by how that big climactic battle ended, I wanted to explain myself. I think that Adam was a good motivating factor for Yang's kidnapping, but I in no way wanted him to be the main enemy. Because he really doesn't deserve it. I wanted him to come back as a monster, and die as a wimp. So I gave him an anticlimactic death at the hands of Raven. Because he's a bitch.
> 
> Have a good, great, better-than-great day, and don't get sick like me!


	12. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Branwen tribe is under attack.

“You’re under attack? By what?” Blake asked.

Raven pointed to the still-startled Division Three members in the room. “Apparently you led some of them to us.”

“We didn’t-” then Yin cut herself off. “Shit, the sniper. They must have followed us and alerted the other members.”

“Yes, so it’s your fault and you’re going to fix it,” Raven commanded.

Some of the Division Three troops started pointing their guns at the women. Raven glared at them, then flicked her wrist and the entire room of faunus was frozen solid.

“Doesn’t seem like you need our help,” Yang said.

Raven tilted her head to see Yang behind everyone else. “Good for you, being still alive,” she said. “But yes, I do. They’ve got some heavy firepower and we’re being overwhelmed. Division Three and the tribes of Anima have been at war for a long time, and I refuse to be snuffed out due to your stupidity. I came here to enlist the help of five fully-capable huntresses.” She eyed the group up and down. “I guess I’ll take what I can get.”

“Rude,” Moon said under her breath.

“Problem: Mom’s weapon’s busted,” Yin pointed out.

“She uses a sword, right? We’ve got swords,” Raven said rather unsympathetically. Then she cut open a portal. “You owe me for getting you to your….. wife.”

Yang and Blake both snarled at the way she said that last word.

“I will happily help fight Division Three,” Ruby said, “but you have to apologize to Blake first.”

“What?” Raven said, half amused and half infuriated.

“You heard me,” Ruby said, staring Raven directly in the eyes. “Apologize.”

“I don’t care if you saved the world or if you are my old partner’s daughter, you do _not_ get to give me orders.” Raven’s hand clutched onto the hilt of her blade.

Ruby, on the other hand, folded her scythe up and put it away on her back, clearly seeming unfazed. “I’m just saying, we don’t _have_ to help you. Killing us would just make your problem worse, wouldn’t it?” Ruby smiled as Raven let her hand drop away from the blade. “So, go ahead and apologize to Blake and her kids, and then we'll go!”

Raven looked expectantly at all of the other women in the room, but they all seemed to be waiting for _her_ to speak. Shooting a glare at Ruby on the way, Raven walked up to the black-haired faunus.

“Blake Belladonna,” Raven said. Blake was a bit startled by the fact that her mother-in-law knew her full name. “I don’t like you. I may never like you. But my daughter likes you, so that’s something.”

There was silence, as everyone waited for Raven to add to the apology, but the said addition never came.

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Welp, that’s the best we’re going to get, I guess.” She went speeding into the portal.

“What did my mom say to you before you came through the portal?” Yang whispered as Blake came to help her walk.

“General disapproval of our marriage and faunus in general,” Blake whispered back. “Which is kind of a problem for her, because both of her grandchildren are faunus.”

“They’re not her grandchildren,” Yang growled, before starting towards the portal with her wife.

Yin and Moon followed behind, pretending that they didn’t hear that. Raven sighed, pretending the same thing as she stepped into the portal, closing it behind her.

___

 

Heavy firepower was right. As soon as the group walked through the portal, they were met with heavy resistance.

“Get behind something!” Jaune yelled as bullets sailed over his cover.

It was obvious that the Division Three troops had gotten their hands on some Atlas military property. There were three mounted turrets spraying bullets everywhere, and all of the tribesmen and huntsmen were lucky that their makeshift barricades were holding up.

“Okay, I’ve got this,” Yin said, a light orb appearing above her head. It went shooting at one of the men on the turrets, knocking him off of the platform it was mounted on. One of the other turrets noticed Yin, though, and turned toward her without ceasing its fire. Yin readied another orb.

“YIN!” Blake leapt in front of her daughter and made a stone copy of herself to block the bullets before flying to the side. The bullets cracked against the statue, but didn’t shatter it. Yin was tackled to where her mother had landed by Moon, and Ruby dashed in to help her sister get behind the fallen tree that the others were behind. Raven made a wall of ice to cover them before joining them as her barricade shattered.

“Yin, what were you thinking?” Moon scolded.

Yin frowned. “To be honest, I don’t think I _was_ thinking.”

They stopped talking when they heard a pained cough from beside them.

Blake’s chest was covered in red.

“Mom?!” Yin said in disbelief. The right side of her mother’s chest had been shot. “Mom, I’m so sorry! This is all my fault!”

“Yin, what’s-” Yang stopped when she saw her wife on the ground. “Blake?!” She dove over her wife and applied pressure to the wound. “Blake, baby, talk to me!”

“Ow…” Blake managed. A trickle of blood started to form at the corner of her mouth.

“I’ll see if I can get Jaune!” Ruby said, dashing to the edge of their fortification. Just as she was about to cross out of cover, bullets started splintering the end of the tree trunk. “Nope. Alright, any other ideas?” she asked.

“I have one,” Raven said, letting her holster spin and settle on an orange blade. Yang caught her hand as she tried to draw the sword. “Do you have a better plan?” the older woman asked, and Yang relaxed her grasp.

Yin, seeing where this was going, took her injured mother’s hand. “Mom, I won’t lie. This is going to hurt a lot.”

“I know,” Blake said with much difficulty. “Do it.”

Raven laid the flat of her blade on the bullet hole and activated the fire dust. Yin felt her mother’s grasp tighten in her hand as she screamed out in anguish.

Once the wound was fully cauterized, they realized that the shooting had stopped. The silence was heavy on their shoulders, broken only by the occasional involuntary whimper of pain from Blake.

They only dared peek a little bit over the tree. It appeared that the big guns were reloading. They saw Scarlet peek up a little further to try and fire a hookshot, but three Division Three members fired at him at the same time with assault rifles, forcing him back down.

“Bugger me!” he exclaimed.

“I think this is our chance,” Yang said.

“No, it’s _our_ chance. You’re in no condition to fight, Mom,” Moon said. “Aunt Ruby, can you draw their fire?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said, before zipping out of cover and leading many of the faunus to shoot at her.

Moon walked out of her cover. “Everyone, shut your eyes!” she called, and all the black parts of her body began to glow white.

She saw the person in the tree changing colors a second too late.

A sniper bullet pierced her shoulder as she tried to dodge. But she managed to ignore the pain and let out a flash of white.

Everyone reopened their eyes as they heard her yelps of pain after the outburst of light. Most of the Division Three Faunus were blinded, though a few had had the foresight to shut their eyes prior to the flash. Unfortunately, the sniper was among those, and changed colors back to green as they slunk back into the trees.

“I’m going after them,” Ilia declared before leaping out of her makeshift fortress and climbing into the trees.

“Alright, everyone else, take care of the forces,” Raven declared, getting a few dirty looks from the huntsmen.

Sun sighed. “She’s right, though. Let’s go.”

They were more willing to cooperate when Sun gave the order. They climbed over their fortifications and deflected the bullets coming from the enemies who were still aware of their surroundings.

Jaune ran in the other direction, kneeling in front of Moon, who was sprawled out on the ground.

“No,” Moon said weakly. “Help Mom, she’s much worse than me.” She winced as she tried to point at Blake, still behind the fallen tree.

“Alright, will you be okay?” Jaune asked.

“Peachy,” Moon said, losing consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I JUST WANNA BE NOT SICK. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!
> 
> So, sorry that the attacker was kind of underwhelming. Not exactly a 'Salem' level of enemy, but I thought that it makes sense.
> 
> You can comment if you want to, you can leave your friends behind. Because if your friends don't comment and if they don't comment, well they're no friends of mine.


	13. Assault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle of the Branwen tribe continues.

Yin knew that she wasn’t supposed to follow Ilia, but she couldn’t stop herself. This guy shot her sister. Her sister who wasn’t even in Beacon yet.

He was going to regret that.

But she also immediately regretted following Ilia when the faunus woman whipped around and struck her with her electric sword-whip.

“Ow!” Yin yelped.

“Yin?! Why are you here?” Ilia stopped and scanned the trees around them.

Yin pulled herself back up to her feet. “I’m gonna help you get this guy.”

“Yeah, I assumed,” Ilia said. “Look, I don’t want you getting hurt, too. Either of your moms could kill me with their pinky.”

“Well he shot my sister and he’s getting away. We need to get moving.”

“Okay,” Ilia said reluctantly. “Just stay under the trees and find cover whenever possible. He’s a hell of a shot.”

“Got it.”

Then a shot rang out, and Ilia reeled backwards. Her aura fizzled out.

“Ow,” Ilia said, scanning the trees again. “There!”

Yin used her semblance and broke down the tree that Ilia was pointing at. A figure in the tree turned white before leaping away into another tree.

“Oh no you don’t,” Ilia said, jumping after them.

___

 

They were doing well, until they weren’t. The huntsmen and tribesmen tried to take out as many Division Three members as they could before they got their vision back, but there were just so many.

Ruby swept the legs out from three blinded troops with her scythe, before taking a few shots to the aura around her back.

“Crap!” she yelled, diving behind a tree.

“They’re waking back up!” Neptune yelled from his own hiding space.

A faunus got back on one of the turrets and opened fire, causing tribesman and huntsman alike to take cover. There were fewer men, but two of the turrets were still fully operational. The other was split in half courtesy of a lightning bolt from their spring maiden, who was currently teleporting back to Yang’s location.

“Hi,” Yang said begrudgingly.

“What are you still doing back here?” Raven asked.

“She’s in no condition to fight,” Jaune said over his shoulder as he was healing Blake.

“The hell she isn’t! We need everyone we can get out there!” Raven yelled, punctuated by the sound of bullets flying over them.

“She was tortured for about two weeks,” Blake said in a raspy voice. “Give her a break.”

Raven sighed. “Fine. But your daughter’s still lying out in the open. Who’s gonna fix that, huh?”

As if on cue, Moon started shifting on the ground and clutching her shoulder. It seemed to attract the attention of one of the turret gunners, as the bullets started approaching her.

Ruby arrived so fast that it looked like she had just materialized in a cloud of petals. She grabbed the back of Moon’s shirt and mustered all the strength she could to drag her behind cover, just before the bullets could reach her.

“Aunt Ruby…” Moon’s voice was weak. “Thanks.”

But Ruby’s expression turned to anger as she peered over the overturned table they were behind. Then she was dashing with her semblance, dodging between bullets. She appeared in front of the faunus using the turret.

“YOU. TRIED. TO. HURT. MY. NIECE!” Ruby yelled, punching the man in the face between each word.

Several other Division Three members noticed, and aimed their rifles at her, but she was gone in a flash. Then the troops were being devastated with a giant, red scythe.

Sun yelled out, “Come on, she’s giving us an opening!”

And the huntsmen surged over their cover again, followed closely by the members of the tribe.

___

 

“Ilia?” Yin called. She had lost track of both her faunus ally and faunus enemy, and was only idly wandering through the forest at this point. “Ilia, where’d you go?”

Then two bodies came crashing from the trees and onto the ground. Ilia, who had been the one on top, was quickly thrown off of the other chameleon faunus, who jumped back up to their feet. They appeared to be male, but they were covered in black and green currently, so it was hard to discern anything else.

Yin slid her wrist-blades out. Seeing this, the Division Three sniper turned his rifle around in his hands and it transformed into a battle axe.

“So, what’s your name Mr. Sneaky?” Yin asked.

The chameleon faunus just glared at her through his mask.

_ Right. He might be one of those people who don’t talk. Like that Neo chick that Mom talks about, and Fox Alistair. May he rest in peace. _

“Alright, not a huge talker. That’s not a problem. What  _ is _ a problem is the fact that you shot my goddamn sister. And your friends hurt both of my moms,” Yin said. “I’m starting to get tired of people messing with my fucking family.”

The faunus raised his axe like he was challenging her. Then Ilia, now back on her feet, got in front of Yin and raised her blade.

“Don’t,” Yin said, placing her hand on Ilia’s shoulder. “This is between me and him.”

Ilia looked back at her. “Yin, your mother would kill me if you got hurt.”

“She took a bullet trying to protect me. I’m not letting anyone else do that,” Yin said. “Ilia… please.”

With a moment’s hesitation, Ilia stepped to the side.

“Please don’t die,” Ilia said, with concern in her eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Yin said. “Dying isn’t part of the plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have anything in particular to say, other than stay healthy and stay happy! See you guys in the comments.


	14. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yin faces her enemy one-on-one, while everyone else wraps up their battle with Division Three.

In the end, Ruby was sitting on a pile of bad guys.

Blake, mostly healed at this point, looked at the damage. Several tribesmen were injured, but that didn’t  _ really _ bother her that much. Yang, despite their prior conversation, had jumped into the fight towards the end, and, though helpful, had ended up injuring herself more. Moon was still bleeding, but Jaune had moved on to applying pressure to her wound. He had used up his aura, but he could still help medically. Ren was knocked out, but, you know, what else is new? And Velvet had taken a bullet to her leg. Blake had a feeling  _ that _ would be a difficult discussion with Coco.

But, all in all, the sheer number of Division Three members they had knocked out was impressive. Ruby had gone on a rage-fueled rampage to protect Moon, and was almost entirely to thank for the victory.

_ She did that for Moon,  _ Blake smiled as she thought.  _ She really would be a great aunt if she was around more often. A positive influence on both Moon and… _

And that was when she realized it.

“Where’s Yin?!” she asked the group, ignoring the pain that speaking gave her.

Several shrugs among the huntsmen and tribe members caused horrifying thoughts of her daughter in a pool of her own blood to cross Blake’s mind.

“Yin?!” She called desperately into the forest as she limped into it. “Yin, where are you?!”

___

 

And so they stood, leveling their weapons at each other. Two faunus, on opposite sides of the battle.

“So, uh…” Yin broke the tense silence, “are we just gonna stand here or…?”

The masked faunus’s skin changed from green to red as he changed his weapon back to rifle form and fired.

Thanks to the reflexes that she had picked up during her huntress training, Yin just barely was able to deflect the bullet with one of her blades. She braced herself to stop another shot, but it never came. It seemed the first one was just to size her up.

Yin took this as a sign to go on the offensive. A light orb formed over her head and she shot it at her enemy, who easily deflected it with his axe. She shot two more light orbs, which were just as easily dealt with, before changing her weapons to their fist form and charging in.

The chameleon faunus blocked two punches with his axe before jumping backwards and into a tree. He shifted his weapon back to a sniper rifle.

“He’s trying to keep distance between you! Don’t let him!” Ilia called from the sidelines.

Yin nodded, then broke down the tree with a light orb. It came crashing to the ground, but the faunus lunged at her before it did. Yin brought her two blades up above her head to block the axe that was slashing towards her, and then she tried for a powerful kick to the sniper’s side. It didn’t connect, since the faunus had already moved, and Yin nearly fell over from the momentum of her own attack.

Then she felt the blade of an axe rake across the aura of her back. She stumbled forward as her aura fizzled out.

_ Damn, between the fight with Adam Taurus and this, I’ve been at this too long. _

She turned back around, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the chameleon faunus was simply standing his ground a few feet away, axe raised at Yin.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yin saw Ilia draw her weapon.

“Don’t,” Yin said.

“Yin, you’re out of aura and he's hardly been hit. This isn’t a fair fight.”

Yin looked at Ilia. “I chose this life. Please, let me be a huntress.”

Ilia reluctantly put her sword back into its sheath, but didn’t remove her hand from the hilt.

When Yin looked back at her enemy, she saw that he hadn’t moved an inch.

“I’ve gotta hand it to ya’,” Yin said, “you’re either honorable or a coward.”

The faunus didn’t show any emotion on his face, but the red hue that his skin took telegraphed his anger.

Yin created a light orb and shot it at her combatant, who swiped it away with his axe, but Yin followed right behind the orb and got a few easy slices at the chameleon faunus’s aura as he was preoccupied.

The sniper jumped back and fired two shots midair, but Yin had sidestepped out of the way. She then rushed to where the faunus had landed. Many blows were traded, very few of which were actually successful in hitting their target. Then, when it looked like the sniper was going to retreat again, Yin put all of her strength into her plated fist and punched him into a tree. His yellow aura flickered and then died. And then his skin turned white.

“Not so tough without your aura-” she was cut off by a bullet that went whizzing past her ear, barely missing her head. She looked behind her at where the round buried itself in a tree, then looked back to the one who had shot it, just to see that he was no longer there.

“Look out above you!” she heard Ilia’s voice say.

But when she looked up, all she saw was the heel of the sniper’s boot. The kick knocked her off her feet and her head hit the ground hard. Darkness gathered around the edges of her vision.

___

 

Blake found Yin in the forest, with Ilia helping her walk.

“Yin-”

“I’m fine,” Yin said. “Just a little blunt force trauma and a bruised ego.”

“Who-”

“The sniper that Ilia went after,” Yin interrupted once again. “I fought them, and I almost won, but he got the jump on me. Ilia protected me, but he got away.”

Then Blake brought Yin and Ilia into a tight hug. “I’m just glad that I don’t have to bury anyone today.”

“How’s Moon?” Yin asked.

“She’ll be okay. Your Aunt Ruby saved her life, you know.”

Yin rolled her eyes. “Does that mean that I’ll have to hear Moon rant about how awesome our aunt is even  _ more _ ?”

Blake smiled, “Come on, Ruby’s pretty cool.”

“Alright, alright,” Yin smiled a pained smile. “How are you and Mom?”

“Jaune fixed me. I’m fine. And your mother,” Blake’s smile turned to a smirk, “owes us some much-needed family time.”

“Hey Mom?” the yellow-haired faunus said.

“Yeah?” Blake responded.

“Don’t ever take a bullet for me again, okay?”

“No promises,” Blake said with a slight smile.

“Not to break up the moment,” Ilia said, “but don’t you have a mother/wife that you need to go hug to death?”

Blake nodded. “You have a very good point, Ilia. Thank you. Let’s go attack your mother with affection, Yin.”

Yin grinned as Blake started supporting her from the other side. “That sounds like an amazing idea.”

___

 

“So, your tribe’s gonna have to move now, huh?” Yang asked her mother.

“Yes, we are. Sorry, but too many people know where we are now,” Raven said. “But I have the sneaking suspicion that you don’t really care that much.

Yang made a very long sigh, which only hurt her bruised ribs a little bit. “Look, Mom, you can’t blame me for saying that you’re not the ideal mother.”

Raven kicked an overturned table back into place. “No, I can’t blame you for that.”

“And I can’t imagine that you would be a much better grandmother,” Yang said, tracing her finger around a bullet hole in one of the tents. “But… you might have saved my wife’s life with that fire dust.” Yang frowned as she kicked a small rock across the ground. “So I guess that’s something.”

Raven smiled at her daughter’s imitation, but then her smile faded. “Yang… do me a favor.”

“I don’t know if you’re exactly in the position to be asking for favors,” Yang retorted.

Raven looked her straight in the eyes. “Yang… make sure you don’t leave them. Your daughters, your wife, any of them. Don’t make my mistake. Make sure to give them the love they deserve.” Then she averted her gaze.

Yang let the information of what her mother had just said process in her mind for a moment. “I will. And you should find someone or something to love here, too. It’s kind of sad to see you alone like this. Maybe find a new Vernal.”

Raven nodded without looking at her daughter. But that made it so that the hug she received was even more surprising. Her hand instinctively went to her blade’s hilt.

“Easy,” Yang said, continuing the awkward hug for a bit longer before pulling away. “Just… find a way to be happy out here, okay? You have a right to that.”

Raven looked at her blonde daughter once more before passing behind a tent and flying away as a black bird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, one more chapter!
> 
> I say yay, because that means we can soon start on the next story! And you guys thought _this one_ was angsty.
> 
> I am a little scared, though, because the next story isn't quite finished yet!
> 
> As always, I love responding to comments, so go ahead and leave one down below. I appreciate it.
> 
> Have a goodgood day!


	15. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

Moon’s eyes squinted at the hospital lights as she woke up.

“Hey, Moon,” Ruby and Blake said in sync.

“Hey, Aunt Ruby… Mom…” Moon said. “I… uh… I’m having trouble remembering what happened…”

“You’re on pretty heavy pain meds, so that’s to be expected,” Blake said.

“You got shot,” Ruby added.

“Oooh yeah,” Moon slurred. “And then you were like a ninja and saved me!”

Blake grinned and looked at Ruby before looking back to Moon. “Yep, like a ninja.”

“Thanks for making it so I don’t have more holes in me,” Moon said, reaching with her good arm towards Ruby.

“I wasn’t gonna let you get more hurt.” Ruby smiled.

“Is Mom okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Yang said, entering the room with a limp. “Or I will be after some physical and emotional therapy. I think I’ll take it easy for a little bit after that.” She slumped down into a chair.

“Can you feel your arm at all?” Blake asked her daughter before planting a kiss on her wife’s forehead.

“Not really, it’s kind of numb…”

“That’s probably for the best,” Yang said. “That bullet hole’s gonna leave a big scar.”

“I’m gonna have a scar?” Moon asked, and before anyone could respond, she pumped her good fist into the air. “Yes! I’m gonna have a scar! The kids at Signal are not gonna believe this!”

“Well,” Blake gave a surprised grin, “at least you aren’t upset about it.”

Then Moon’s drugged brain seemed to realize that someone was missing. “Is Yin okay?”

“She’s perfectly fine,” Blake responded. “I sent her to go get some food.”

“Yeah, because the food here is  _ shit _ ,” Yang said, ignoring Blake’s glare.

Then Moon looked back to Ruby. “Thanks again for saving me. You’re a really awesome huntress.”

“Geez, Moon, it’s what I do. No need to thank me,” Ruby blushed at the praise.

“Speaking of you being a huntress,” Yang began, “where are you headed off to after this? I know you don’t usually like to stay in one place for long.”

Ruby smirked. “Nowhere.”

Yang and Blake tilted their heads.

Then Ruby continued. “I’ve taken myself off of the roster of active huntsmen.”

Then Yang and Blake were staring at her with their mouths agape. Even Moon, with her mind cloudy as it was, looked surprised.

Yang broke the silence. “Ruby, you-”

“Let me finish, I was just dramatically pausing,” Ruby interrupted, and Yang clamped her jaw shut. “Look, I’ve been a terrible aunt.”

Moon began, “No you-”

“Yes I have, Moon,” Ruby cut her off. “I haven’t seen you or Yin since- well, too long ago. And it seems like half the times I ever come to see you, you are in imminent danger.” Ruby took a deep breath. “I’ve had a world-saving addiction for too long. I know I’m helping people, but there are plenty of other huntsmen who can do that. I think my mind is just… stuck in the fight against Salem.” Ruby took a second to cross her legs on the uncomfortable hospital chair. “So, I’m no longer an active huntress. Instead, I’ve been talking to Oscar about a teaching position.”

A smile grew on Blake’s face. “Wait, do you mean-”

“Yep! Come next semester, I’m going to officially be part of the faculty at Beacon Academy.”

“So next year you’re going to teach me?!” Moon asked, bubbling with excitement. “That’s so awesome!”

Yang attacked her sister with a crushing hug. “Oh, you’re gonna be a great teacher!”

“Not if you kill me first!” Ruby choked out.

When Yang let her sister go, Blake was right behind her to hug her red-cloaked sister-in-law.

“Thanks,” Blake said. “I can’t even describe how happy this makes me.”

“I would join you, but my arm hurts,” Moon slurred out.

Ruby let go of Blake’s embrace and turned to her niece. “Come here you highly-medicated goofball!” she said before leaning over to hug Moon on the bed.

After a few seconds, Moon said, “Aunt Ruby, I’m loving this hug, but you’re also hurting me.”

“Oh,” Ruby backed away and rubbed the back of her head, but she couldn’t stifle her smile.

“I swear, if anyone else from this family gets kidnapped again, I’m going to lose it,” Yang said.

“Amen to that,” Yin said, walking into the room with several bags of fast food. “Hey Moon.”

“Hey,” the black-haired daughter said, waving idly to her sister.

“Yes! Food!” Ruby snatched one of the bags out of Yin’s hands.

Blake grabbed the paper drink tray and handed everyone their drinks. She then raised her own. “A toast. To family.”

“To family!” everyone else in the room said, clinking together their paper cups.

“And to the fucked-up things we’ve been through,” Yin added.

“Yin!” Blake scolded.

Yin just shrugged. “Am I wrong, though?”

“Not really,” Yang said. “Here’s to hoping that fewer fucked-up things happen.”

“Here here!” Ruby said, before trying to down her entire drink in one slurp and failing miserably and hilariously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it, folks!
> 
> I have had a blast posting this one for you guys, and I can't wait to start posting the next one.
> 
> Give it some time, though, as I'm still sick and miserable, and I still haven't finished writing my first draft yet. Maybe two or three weeks.
> 
> That said, keep your eye out for the next installment in the series, The Kingdom!
> 
> (P.S. I still love your comments, and I would like to know what you want to see in the future. So... let me know!)


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